15: Phasmatis ex Machina
by Silent Elegy
Summary: Danny has always been a C student at best, and moonlighting as a super hero has not help his grades in the slightest. When he's granted genius intelligence, he's naturally overjoyed, but there's one little glitch...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon studios. Kat/Electra, the Ghost Master, and all related characters are the product Silent Elegy.

A/N: Okay, as the fifteen in the title implies, this is the fifteenth ficin my little ongoing series. I have no idea which OCs are going to show up, but rest assured, I've not just thrown anyone in. Everyone you don't know has been introduced at some point. You can check my profile for a list of all my fics.

And in case you weren't here for the last one, Phasmatis ex Machina means Ghost from the Machine. Yes, it is a play on the literary term Deus ex Machina, not the anime Ghost in the Shell. I tried to watch that once, and it's not that great.

* * *

"I just want everyone here to know that I object to this plan!" There was a collective groan from the assembled men as they all turned to glare at the speaker. She had been quite effectively trapped inside an electromagnetic field located in a corner of the lab that was Technus' hideout. 

"Can't you control your daughter?" Vlad Plasmius asked, one hand over his eyes to ward off a headache.

The ghost master of technology and science scoffed. "Obviously, you've never had children."

Behind him, Skulker chuckled at the expression on his boss' face, but was wise enough not to say anything. "Are you quite certain this will work?" he asked instead, preempting Vlad who had been distracted by Kat's outburst.

"Of course, it will work!" Technus snapped. "I built it!"

A derisive snort could be heard; it was subsequently ignored. "I seem to recall that no few of you inventions have resulted in...shall we say, less-than-desirable results." Vlad crossed his arms and added, "Like explosions."

Technus shrugged uncaringly. "Well, if that happens, then all our problems are solved anyway."

"Unless he becomes a ghost." Once again, the three of them pointedly ignored Kat's muttered comment.

"It will take some time, however," Technus continued. He finished whatever he had been doing and held out a small vial for Skulker to take. "This is the first time I've tried to hack a biological system, so it might even be a few hours."

"Hours?" his daughter burst out gleefully. "Hours? Ha! Aha ha ha! Try days, Daddio! Weeks; maybe even months, considering Phantom's dual nature!"

Apparently becoming fed up, he fixed her with a venomous glare. "You can just sit on it, missy!"

Kat slapped her forehead. "Dad? That term hasn't been cool since before I was born..."

"Can you make me a guarantee?" Vlad interrupted. "Will it work, or should I hire someone else?"

Technus seemed affronted that someone should question his genius. "Of course, it will work! For I am Technus, Master of-"

The half ghost quickly cut him off. "That's all I needed to know. Skulker! You know what to do." He swept from the lab, followed closely by his maliciously grinning employee. Technus spared a moment to make sure Kat couldn't escape and ruin their plans before leaving as well.


	2. Chapter One

It was a relatively normal morning at Casper High. Chattering students filed into the building as close to the late bell as they could get without actually being late. Most had learned to simply ignore the occasional ghost battle as long as the combatants didn't get too close. The one that raged as they found their way to class was no exception, spectacular though it was.

The fight had started as a duel between Danny Phantom and the heavily armored spook a few students recognized as Skulker. That was hardly unusual, and very few people paid any more attention than it took to determine that they weren't in danger. Then the mysterious ghost hunter showed up. Suddenly, everyday drudgery had become fun and exciting, but it still wasn't anything they hadn't seen a few times before. A three-way battle royale involving two of Amity Park's most infamous celebrities still wasn't worth having detention later.

"Would you just leave this to me, already?" Danny yelled peevishly.

"Not on your afterlife, ghost!" Valerie shot back, directing blasts at both of her foes.

The ghost boy ducked out of the way and nearly collided with Skulker, who took the opportunity to jab him with something. He countered with an energy blast and might have demanded to know what just happened, but Valerie's jet sled smashed into him. Apparently, she still cared more about defeating him than any other ghost.

"My work here is done!" Skulker announced, although he lingered for a few minutes to watch his favorite prey grapple with his second favorite prey. When it became apparent that the boy was too preoccupied to respond, he flew away, pouting. After he judged a suitable distance had passed, he pressed a button on his wrist unit and said, "Phase One is complete."

"Oh, excellent!" announced the voice of his partner in crime. "Then I, Technus, shall proceed to Phase Two!"

Skulker shook his head, half amused and half annoyed, as he continued on to the temporary base. Vlad would be waiting for a status report, and the sooner he gave it, the sooner he could get back to more important things. Like his own plans to capture the ghost boy after this one failed.

He didn't have much faith in it.

* * *

The two sometime enemies trudged to class side by side. The fight had finally ended when the late bell rang. Danny had used the distraction to escape, and Valerie had been only too happy to let him. The last thing she needed was to get grounded again. "So what happened to you?" she asked, noticing that her friend was in much the same condition she was.

Danny cringed slightly. "Oh…uh, Dash…?" He refrained from a sigh of relief when she only nodded. In a sudden burst of impishness, he asked the same of her.

Valerie cringed as well, and berated herself for not already having an excuse. "Um, just not feeling great today," was her lame reply. She did not manage to hold back a relieved sigh, but the boy pretended not to notice as they parted ways.

He snuck into class amidst snickering and stares and actually made it to his seat before the teacher intoned, "Nice of you to join us, Mr. Fenton." He grinned sheepishly as the man reached over to mark him as late instead of truant. The lecture resumed, and everyone returned to falling asleep.

Danny rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn't remember hitting his head, but that's what it felt. His side, right below the ribs where Skulker jabbed him, was horribly sore. It almost felt like his last flu shot, except that it burned. He surreptitiously reached down to brush his fingers across the area and wasn't very surprised to feel a knot just under the skin.

Suddenly, he was very, very scared. It was all he could do sit quietly in his seat and not run home. He couldn't trust his parents to help; he'd have to tell them what happened, and there was always the chance that they would turn on him. He would have to wait until he could talk to Jazz. With a sigh of complete misery, not that out of place considering the teacher's subject matter, he settled back to wait.

By the time his first class with both Sam and Tucker rolled around, his head felt like it was about to split open, and the knot had started to go away. Considering that meant that whatever he'd been injected with was being dissolved in his bloodstream, it did nothing to ease his mind.

"Mr. Fenton!"

Danny jumped and looked up. He was vaguely aware that Mr. Lancer had been calling his name for some time, but he couldn't seem to muster the energy to care. He was, however, surprised that the teacher's expression was one of worry and not anger. "Perhaps you should go to the nurse's office, Danny," Lancer said quietly. The boy nodded and instantly regretted it, but he managed to get to his feet and stumble out of the room. He didn't remember much after that.

* * *

"_Would you give me a minute? Perfection takes time!"_

"_Perfection also takes patience, which I am rapidly running out of!"_

"_Should've listened to Katy…"_

"_What was that?"_

"_I've only been at this for a couple of hours! This isn't as easy as I make it look, you know!"

* * *

_

Maddie gazed worriedly down her little boy and brushed a few hairs out of his face. She had used the opportunity awarded by his unconscious state to take a few blood samples, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong. Granted, it was a little hard to tell which strains of ectoplasm were supposed to be there and which ones weren't, but...

Danny stirred slightly and blinked unfocused eyes up at her. "What happened?" he murmured.

"Someone found you passed out in the hall," she answered quietly. "How do you feel, sweetie?"

He thought about that, and was surprised to realize that his migraine was not as bad. There was still dull ache in his side where Skulker had injected him, but it no longer felt like it was on fire. "Better than I did," he confessed.

Maddie appeared completely unconvinced as she felt his forehead. "Well, you're not running a fever..." she allowed. "But I think we'll wait and see how you feel tomorrow morning. I may yet take you to the doctor."

"No!" Danny exclaimed, a note of panic creeping into his voice. "Not the doctor, please?"

"Honestly, Danny! I don't know why you-" Maddie broke off as she realized that she did know why he didn't want to see a doctor, and smiled encouragingly. "Well, we'll talk about that tomorrow. You just get some rest, all right? I'm going to be here checking on you periodically, so no trying to sneak out, either." The boy smiled and nodded, in full agreement. His head may have been better, but it still hurt too much to try. He leaned back again as she closed the door.

As she reached the stairs, a voice whispered next to her ear. "Hey, pretty young thang..."

"He's doing better," she sighed, turning to face the glowing red eyes of the Ghost Master. "I'd still like to know what you were doing there."

"You okay in the head, ma'am?" the ghost scoffed. "I was there to run some fool off my property!"

"Your property, is it, now?" The hunter picked up the Ghost Weasel from the bottom of the steps and displayed it menacingly.

The Ghost Master had an amazing array of facial expressions for a creature that only had eyes to work. Maddie could have sworn he paled as he backed away, the "arms" of his sheet making a gesture of surrender. "In that...it's Phantom's property...and I...I'm going to go now..."

He vanished. A quick check on the Ghost Finder revealed that he had, in fact, left as quickly as he could float, and Maddie gave a satisfied little smirk. Jack would never have stood for it, but she had come to the conclusion that having a team of ghosts nearby could be very useful, indeed. They tended to chase other ghosts away, which let Danny get more of his homework done.

She sighed the longing sigh of a helpless mother and reflected on how strange it was to think of Amity Park as her son's territory. He was the dominant ghost in the area, after all. She wondered if he thought of it that way, too.

The Ghost Finder beeped as it registered a new ghost a few yards away from the house. After it held its position for a few minutes, Maddie dismissed it and set to work on dinner. It was probably just one of the haunters, again. They seemed to enjoy playing "Torture Jack Fenton" a little too much.

* * *

Skulker stood on a rooftop, his binoculars trained on his prey's window. He couldn't quite see the boy from there, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was there. He grumbled slightly at the need to abide by Plasmius' plan.

"What was I thinking?" he muttered, not for the first time. Giving the ghost boy to Vlad had seemed like a good idea at the time, and he'd regretted it ever since. He'd had Danny Phantom in his very grasp, and just let it slip away so someone could play some fool game with a poorly constructed ecto-skeleton and two teenagers.

Ah, well. Exist and learn, after all. He certainly was not going to make the same mistake twice. As soon as Technus slipped, Skulker would be there to catch the whelp and ensure that this plan wasn't a complete waste.

"There you are!" Skulker flinched and rolled his eyes before turning. "I'd like you to go find some way to distract those haunters," Vlad went on. It was painfully clear that he was simply coming up with make-work to keep his employee busy. However, the ghost nodded. At least, he was still getting paid.


	3. Chapter Two

Danny stared at his ghostly self in the mirror, eyes searching frantically for something, anything that was different or wrong. It was well after midnight, but he couldn't sleep any longer. The pounding in his head had become a faint ache right behind his eyes, and his side had been completely cured by his transformation.

"Maybe he was just trying to scare me," he muttered, unconvinced. Skulker never did anything without a reason, but what could it be? He drifted into the air and hovered for a minute, then glanced toward his bedroom door. Satisfied that the only light was his ghostly glow, he became intangible and drifted through the wall.

"Well, those two powers work," he announced to the night sky. After a moment's thought, he became momentarily invisible just to prove he still could and flew off for the warehouse district. There would be a few deserted, he knew, and he wanted to test his ectoplasmic energy beam somewhere.

Suddenly, something very hot passed dangerously close to his head and a voice called out, "I was wondering where you've been all day, ghost!"

Danny sighed and rolled to face Valerie. Inwardly, he was worried; if his powers weren't working properly, he might hurt her or be hurt himself. Of course, he wasn't about to let her know that. "Does your dad know you're out this late?" he returned impishly.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him!"

"Fine…" the boy grumbled. "Look, can we maybe do this another time? I'm really not feeling that great, right now."

In response, the young ghost hunter simply began to fire. Danny ducked and dodged and was trying to figure out how to get away when an idea struck. Some ghosts could take over machinery, and his abilities seemed to be a mishmash of several different ghosts. He rushed his opponent, becoming intangible at the last second to phase into her jet sled.

Inside reminded him of the various occasions that Kat dragged him through power lines for whatever reason. He was aware of every circuit, every electric impulse, and he thought he could understand Technus just for a moment. He shoved that thought away and directed the sled to the ground, then sent a command to the suit to power down before phasing back out again.

Valerie had apparently been yelling for some time. "How'd you do that?" she demanded.

"I'm just that good," Danny answered with a smirk as he flew away. He was very pleased with himself for that. However, rather than continue his previous journey, he simply returned home. He was tired again, finally, and he didn't much want to meet Valerie again later. His powers seemed to be fine.

He dropped into bed, yawned, and changed back even as he was falling asleep.

* * *

Skulker let out a forlorn sigh and rolled his eyes, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. His hands were clamped around the jaws of a very large, very active alligator as it thrashed about in his grip, unsuccessfully trying to hit him with its powerful tail. The rest of the Ghost Master's team merely floated or stood helplessly, amazed that anyone could possibly be strong enough to hold the beast's jaws closed with just two hands.

The alligator's struggles slowed, and it appeared to be trying to gasp for air. An amber glow appeared in its eyes as the Ghost Master's mind tried to reassert itself. There was clearly a battle of some sort being waged between the fused personalities. "Are you quite through?" Skulker asked, his amusement having been exhausted several minutes prior. The creature gave one last buck and exhaled a misty substance through its nose, vanishing as it did so until only its eyes were left.

The Ghost Master made a noise that was part growl and part the word "Yeah," proving that they had reached an uneasy truce, not an understanding.

Skulker nodded once. "Good. I have a proposition for you." The dull amber grew a little brighter, but the actual response was lost amidst angered snarling. He continued anyway. "My employer has sent me to capture you, which I would be easily able to do, as you have seen. I am prepared to let you all go on the condition that you do not interfere with our plans."

More snarling and growling; there were words there, but they were difficult to understand. Fortunately, the elderly banshee known as Gramma Marna translated. "What be in it fer you, then?"

The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter smirked; this was the part he'd been waiting for. "My employer has placed his trust in the hands of someone who routinely underestimates the ghost child. This plan is going to fail, and when it does, I'll need someone to help distract Plasmius and Technus while I capture the ghost boy."

"And why...should we let you...do that?" the Ghost Master finally managed.

"Because I have no interest in ruling Amity Park, you will become the dominant ghost in the area."

The disembodied eyes suddenly blazed red as the alligator relinquished control. "Well, the Ghost Master can't say no to that, nosiree!" he answered happily. "We'll just sit here peaceful-like, then, until you give the okay." Someone draped his sheet around the general vicinity of his shoulders, and he extended what passed for his hand. The two shook amiably enough before Skulker flew away, very satisfied with his arrangement.

"You're just going to trust him?" asked Gypsy.

The Ghost Master nodded. "Walker likes the twins, remember? I'm sure ole Ghost Master can work something out if that one tries to double-cross us."

* * *

"_The good news is, I figured this thing out."_

"_And the bad news?"_

"_...It's going to take longer than I though."_

"_Oh, what now?"_

"_Hey, don't blame this one on me! It's you biologicals' fault for having such complicated systems! I can't take control, but I can feed him suggestions."_

"_Very well. How does this help, then?"_

"_He's not fighting me if he thinks it's his own idea."_

"_In that case, proceed."

* * *

_

Danny sighed and opened his eyes, gazing at his ceiling through a sleepy fog. He'd just had the oddest dream; it was something about Technus and Vlad, but he couldn't remember anything else. He shrugged and sat up just as his alarm went off, and spared a moment to be annoyed after he hit the snooze button. He hated waking up before the alarm.

"Danny!" Jazz yelled, pounding on his door. "Time to get up!"

"I'm awake!" he returned peevishly, hunting for his clothes.

"Are you sure?" She barely repressed a squeal as a pair of socks phased through the door to collide with her head, followed closely by part of her brother as he leaned through to retrieve them. "Real mature, Danny," she muttered to the sound of quiet snickering.

The sibling's spat was interrupted by their mother's voice from the bottom of the stairs. "Jazz, honey, are you sure Danny's feeling well enough for that?"

The girl cringed; he'd been fine before bed, and she'd kind of forgotten about his short illness. She glanced sheepishly back at her brother who appeared to have also forgotten that he was supposed to be sick. "Uh, oh...no…I think I need to go back to bed," he moaned unconvincingly.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "He's fine!" she yelled back to Maddie.

Danny returned to his room, mentally berating himself. Really, he was no longer tired, but what teenager wouldn't jump at the chance to get a day off from school? It was too late for that, but at least he didn't have to argue with his mom about going to the doctor.

Mornings were often a hazardous affair around the Fenton household. Rather than deal with avoiding his parents, he simply left. It seemed to be the wisest course of action. Left with nothing better to do, he went on to the school and flipped through his math book. It suddenly hit him that a lot of the answers were wrong, and he set about correcting them. A few of the questions were wrong; he corrected those as well.

He managed to get a week's worth of homework done before a pair of shadows fell over where he had sat against the wall. "Danny, what are you doing?" Tucker asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"Just bored sitting here," the ghost boy confessed. "I didn't feel like dealing with Mom and Dad this morning."

Sam joined him against the wall and asked worriedly, "How do you feel after yesterday?"

He shrugged. "Pretty good, actually. I don't think whatever Skulker did even worked. Actually-" The sound of the bell cut him off, and he huffed. "I'll tell you guys later," he finished. "We better get to class before we're late."

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances that were equal parts indulgent and concerned. Danny was actually eager to get to class, so clearly, something was wrong. They just hoped that humorous little thought didn't herald something worse.

The boy began his first class actually eager to learn for once. It was a full thirty seconds into the lecture before he remembered why he hated that class and joined everyone else in trying to fall asleep. The second class, one that he usually enjoyed, went no better. By third period, he had come to the conclusion that the educational system of Amity Park was sorely lacking in real challenge and began doodling in his notebook.

He jumped as a hand slammed into the desk, almost startling him into letting his eyes flash green. "All right, Mr. Fenton," the overweight teacher said in that superior tone of his. "Since you obviously know this material so well that you don't need to pay attention, perhaps you'd like to solve the equation on the board?"

"4,774.64 Hz," he sighed without paying a great deal of attention. It actually took a moment before he noticed everyone staring at him in amazement, and a few seconds longer to realize that he'd actually answered the question. He glanced up to see Lancer give him a suspicious glare.

"Very well," the teacher said at last, moving off to continue.

"How'd you know that?" Tucker leaned over to whisper. Danny could only shrug, but he gave his friends an encouraging smile. By the time class was over, his bespectacled friend was practically bursting with curiosity. "Man, we haven't even studied that chapter! How'd you know?"

"Danny, are you sure everything's okay?" Sam pressed. She wanted to be happy for him, but she couldn't shake the certainty that something was wrong.

"Yeah, everything's great. That's kind of what I was trying to tell you this morning." He glanced around and led his friends to relatively clear section of wall near the band room. "Skulker injected me with something yesterday, and I don't think it's working like it was supposed to."

"What do you mean?" Sam demanded. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Danny insisted. "That's just it! I think whatever it was made me super smart." He glared as Tucker started laughing.

"You're kidding, right?" the boy snickered.

"Come over after school, and I'll prove it."

The next period bell rang, and the three friends agreed to meet. Danny grinned as he parted ways with them. He'd never actually been able to look forward to a test before, but if it was as easy as the rest of school, he wasn't going to have any trouble.


	4. Chapter three

"Okay, okay, okay," Tucker exclaimed, grinning. He punched a few buttons on his PDA and said, "4,297 times 84."

"360,948; Tucker, that's basic math," Danny answered, rolling his eyes.

Sam sighed, still worried. "Not in those numbers, Danny. Are you sure this is okay?"

"Okay? Sam, this is great!" The ghost boy jumped to his feet and began to pace, unable to sit still any longer. "I mean, I feel like I know everything!"

"Size of the Taj Mahal in square inches?"

He took a breath, then stopped when the answer was not immediately forthcoming. "Except that," he allowed. "But! I do know that the first program Bill Gates wrote took thirty-four kilobytes and wouldn't fit on his computer!"

Tucker scoffed. "Big deal; I knew that."

Sam rolled her eyes as the two boys started throwing computer-related facts at each other, each trying to outdo the other. She couldn't seem to share in their revelry at Danny's newfound intelligence, which she thought might be due to the fact that girls are more sensible than boys. There was just something familiar about the look in his eyes. After a few minutes, she concluded that he'd simply been around Kat for too long and stood. "Much as I'd like to sit around listening to the two of you act like geeks, I have to get home."

Tucker made a face as he checked the time. "Yeah, I've got to go, too. See you, man."

Danny pouted for a moment and tried to convince them to stay. As he watched them go, he had the odd thought that they were only leaving because they felt threatened by his genius. Strangely enough, that made him feel a little better. On the other hand, he was bored. There was no one else in the house, so he could do whatever he wanted.

Was it ironic that he couldn't think of anything to do?

At last, he ran up to his room, and resumed doing next week's homework. It was something to pass the time.

* * *

"_He might be able to hear us. I was getting some weird interference earlier."_

"_What kind of interference?"_

_He moved forward toward the voices, trying to hear them better. He wasn't sure where he was, but he thought he should know. Something told him that those voices didn't belong, but he wasn't sure what._

"_Random neurons firing? He's half human and half ghost; I'm beginning to understand just how impossible that's supposed to be."_

"_What are you going on about?"_

_It was a darkened hallway full of doors, but something was wrong. The silvered walls and floor squirmed as though it was a living thing, occasionally revealing a more normal surface beneath. As he crept into the faded light, he realized that the hall was literally covered in tiny, writhing bugs. They stopped moving and turned to see him as though possessed of a single mind._

"_I'll tell you after I figure out a way around it. He's listening right now."_

"_What is this?" he asked, backing away._

_A mass of the spider-like creatures converged to become Technus, full of smug egotism as usual. "This is a nightmare. You should wake up, now." Suddenly, the remaining horde swarmed over him, eliciting an alarmed scream. He tried to run, but tripped over his feet and fell…_

…hard onto the not-squirming floor of his room. Still slightly in the dream, Danny jumped to his feet, swatting at the imaginary creatures for several minutes. Eventually, he realized there was nothing there, but he could still feel them. It made his skin crawl.

He sat gingerly on the bed, rubbing his arms and shaking with revulsion. The dream itself was quickly fading, but he remembered Technus was there. Had it been more than a dream?

The force of inner denial almost gave him a headache. Of course, Technus wasn't involved. And how could he be? He could only possess technologies, not biological organisms. Not that he hadn't thought of a perfectly good way to hack into Danny's brain. After all, he was Technus, master of-

…Wait.

Danny blinked and shook his head. What had he been thinking about? It was something important, he thought…

Oh, right. The nightmare bug attack. He shuddered again at the memory of those things swarming over him. They reminded him of how he had envisioned Jazz's bloodstream nanobots, for some reason. He idly wondered if those things were still active.

His skin still itched, making him restless. It was well after midnight, but he didn't expect to fall asleep anytime soon. The nightmare had gotten him rattled like few others had. When he found himself stuck reliving a few of those nightmares, he decided to go down to the lab for a distraction. If nothing else, maybe a few games of solitaire would put him to sleep. Although the thought of being pulled back into that mass of silver spiders almost made him wish for insomnia again.

He sighed slightly at the memory of Pandora, or Hope Thatcher. A whole week that never even happened…the enraged fire spirit had granted him his every heart's desire in exchange for her freedom. Of course, her methods had involved burning things. It had taken a long time for him to realize exactly what that meant. Some things had been obvious, such as burning the school or the police department, or causing an explosion that killed several of his classmates. A few things, however, he didn't realize until much later.

A wish to make Paulina like him had involved burning and cauterizing several pathways through her brain until her personality had been sufficiently altered. A similar wish to make Sam forget Paulina…he didn't want to think about that one. Or the wish he had accidentally made for Jazz to disappear. Maybe those things never happened, but he would never forget that they had been partially his doing.

He stared at the blank computer screen, debating whether to even bother turning it on. He didn't really want to play solitaire. After a few minutes, he unhooked all the cables, grabbed a screwdriver, and started to take it apart.

He'd first met Kat because of Pandora. He grinned a bit at that memory; he had marked her as being related to Technus almost immediately. Even without the familial resemblance, she had that same ego. He had yet to figure out how they could tolerate each other. The astral gremlin seemed to love her father, but they both professed to despise emotion. Then there was the fact that he had once framed her for a series of black outs. She had retaliated, Danny later learned, by trapping Technus in some kind of electromagnetic field and turning him over to Walker. From what he gathered, they did that sort of thing to each other a lot.

The ghost boy stared forlornly down at the dismantled computer and began putting it back together again. There was the time he had been forced to go to Washington. Vlad had purchased a small mansion on the coast of Puget Sound and invited them all to be killed by a pair of water spirits that looked like bloated corpses. Ronan and Julia had decided to go through eternity forcing people to relive their deaths, and had chosen Jazz and some local guy for their victims. Danny stopped them, of course.

Was it strange to be so trapped in the past? He was barely aware that the computer was in one piece again and had no real memory of how it had come to be that way. He decided that he was just more exhausted than he realized and, after plugging all the cords back in, flew back up to his room.

* * *

Certain that the ghost child couldn't overhear his thoughts, Technus reflected on all he'd managed to learn. First and foremost, the boy didn't seem to hold Kat in quite as high esteem as he'd originally assumed. His thoughts of her had been colored by amused exasperation. 

Second, the boy had two very powerful enemies that no one knew about previously. He thought they had been sent to the Ghost Zone and resolved to find out for certain. Having a renewable source of hydroelectric power would solve so many problems.

Technus decided not to report to Vlad anymore. It wasn't as though he'd be missed after the last one. The plan required that he brainwash Danny into joining the older half ghost, but he had a better idea.

* * *

Danny shuddered in his sleep as his dreams were invaded by maniacal laughter that sounded disturbingly like Technus'.

* * *

A/N: Okay, little recap there of my first three stories. I'm working on one that's about Kat discovering that Danny keeps a journal, and the whole fic is a recap from that point of view. It's not going well; I'm just not good enough to make it properly amusing. Instead, it's coming out really bland and boring. So I'm probably going to do something like this instead, either a little every story or all of it in this one. It depends on how it works out happening. 


	5. Chapter Four

The sounds of machinery filled the air. Jazz's first thought as she headed to the kitchen was mild surprise that her parents were already working. The feeling became blatant astonishment when she realized that they were calmly having breakfast. The only person missing was her brother, and he couldn't have been working in the lab.

Could he? He didn't usually sit in his room doing homework for hours on end, either. He was hiding something, and she thought it had something to do with Lancer's question from a few days before. The news that Danny Fenton had, without hesitation, offered the correct answer to a question even the nerds had trouble with had been all over the school. Jazz just hoped he hadn't found a new way to cheat. Or worse…

Jack, on the other hand, positively beamed. "Jazzy-pants!" he exclaimed happily, startling her out of memories of Danny's evil older self. "Your brother's finally interested in ghost hunting! Listen to him down there." He sniffled sentimentally. "He's finally taking after his old man."

"That's great, Dad," she muttered, distracted. She sighed as her father went on at some length about his youth, and was startled to see her own worry reflected on her mother's face. Maddie quickly smoothed her expression with an indulgent smile, though not quickly enough. Jazz wondered if she had found out and decided not to say anything. It was possible she had simply noticed that Danny was acting stranger than usual.

* * *

There was something there, something wrong, and he didn't know what it was. The lack of knowledge bothered him more than anything else ever had in his life, and he couldn't understand why. He had never cared about not knowing things before. This thing in particular, though, had him on edge. He felt like he should know, but something was blocking the information.

He stared down at the tiny screw with single-minded intensity in the hopes that he could stop thinking for a few minutes. It didn't work, and he thought it had something to do with familiarity. But where had the familiarity come from? He didn't know the first thing about machinery except how to use it.

He jumped as a hand descended on his shoulder and swiveled around to face the interruption. "Can't you see I'm busy?" he demanded, cringing inwardly at his tone. He felt even worse at the hurt expression on his sister's face, but pride wouldn't let him back down. Or was it something…

Where was he going with thought again?

"Danny, are you feeling okay?" Jazz asked.

She was just worried, but so was everyone else of late. "I'm fine!" he snapped, turning back to the Fenton Ghost Finder. He didn't even know what he was doing. He'd had an idea, but it was long gone. After a moment, he sighed and turned slightly. "I'm just tired. I haven't been sleeping well."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

No, he really didn't, but part of him kind of did. It couldn't hurt, anyway. "I've been having nightmares that bugs are crawling all over me," he confessed. "Only, they're not just on me, they get into my mouth and my nose, and…" He trailed off with an involuntary shudder.

Jazz thought about that for a moment. She held to the theory that dreams were meaningful in some way. Obviously, they weren't prophetic, but the study of dreams could give a person insight into his own mind. She smiled slightly, certain that she had it all figured out. "You must be feeling overwhelmed," she explained gently. "You should take the day off and go have some fun. I bet you'll be feeling better in no time."

Danny managed a small smile in return and waited until she was back upstairs before he rolled his eyes. She was right; he did feel overwhelmed by the barrage of source-less information that made thinking difficult. Somehow, the very fact that she was right was what grated the worst. No one else was allowed to be right except him.

He finished putting the Ghost Finder back together and debated whether or not to start on the Ghost Bazooka. It wasn't helping to clear his head, but he was bored. He couldn't even stand being around Sam and Tucker anymore because their simple ignorance got on his nerves. It was impossible to have an intelligent conversation with anyone.

He decided to go looking for Kat. She was a genius, or at least claimed to be. He never actually seen evidence of her intellect, but she was Technus' daughter. She shouldn't have to prove herself to lower beings like him…

After a few moments of blessed silence in his head, he wondered what he'd even been thinking about. It was getting rather hard to keep track. He decided to make his excuses to his parents and go for a walk. Maybe the fresh air would help.

* * *

Skulker snickered as his prey exited Fenton Works. Just as he thought, the plan was falling apart. Plasmius had completely lost track of Technus; Danny still wasn't brainwashed; and Skulker, of course, had his own agenda.

He was well aware that two young ghosts had been following him ever since he met with the Ghost Master, and he approved of their reluctance to trust him. While he had no current plans to betray the team, they couldn't know that. Besides, he wasn't sure he wouldn't change his mind. For the moment, however, they might serve a better purpose. He turned to where he knew they hiding and called, "I know you're there."

He could almost hear the uncertainty as they exchanged glances in his mind's eye. For a hunter such as himself, people were very predictable, and these two did disappoint. They faded into view as they drifted up to join him on the roof, revealing themselves to be the twins.

"Very well," said the first.

"What do you want?" asked the second.

"Because you're not getting an apology."

"We don't trust you."

Skulker smirked. That was almost amusing, though he had no doubts it would get very annoying, very quickly. "I never expected you to," he informed them. "But since you're here, why not make yourselves useful?"

They exchanged glances again and began jabbering quietly in some foreign language. After a few lines, he realized they were speaking their secret twin language and stopped trying to run his translator.

"What do you want?" they asked in unison.

He pointed down to the street. "I want you to attack him, but don't tell anyone I put you up to it. You don't have to hurt him," he added as they narrowed their eyes. "Just distract him."

A few more lines of Twin followed. In all honesty, Skulker wanted to go attack the boy himself. On the other hand, he didn't want word to get back to Vlad that he had done so. He felt relatively confident that the half ghost would never hear about this arrangement as long as he did nothing to draw attention to himself.

The twins became a pair of identical white tigers and launched themselves from the rooftop without so much as a "by your leave". Skulker chuckled a bit and shook his head, more amused than offended by their open dislike. He was just happy they had agreed; he wanted to confirm something, and he couldn't do that as easily if he was down there himself.

* * *

So lost in thought was Danny that he didn't even notice his ghost sense going off until something invisible knocked him back. He hit his head against the pavement, but was distracted from the pain by a set of gleaming white teeth. "You are weak, aren't you?" remarked the creature.

"We heard, but didn't believe," her twin added, pacing a circle around him.

Danny let his eyes blaze and smirked a bit at the shocked gasp. "I'm strong enough to beat you!" he announced before sinking into the pavement.

The twins wordlessly paced in circles, taking great care to watch in opposite directions. They expected an attack from below. They didn't expect a nearby car to start up and race towards them, and only one jumped out of the way in time. Danny abandoned his mechanical host and let it crash into a wall, then started blasting at the large white orangutan. They rushed headlong and began to grapple, the twin trying to create a diversion for her sister.

The remaining tiger turned into a white blob and oozed her way to the pavement, where she stood trying to reclaim her bearings. After a moment, she turned into a horse and charged the fighting pair, trusting her sibling to get out of the way.

Danny heard the rhythmic clopping and became intangible at the last second, forcing equine hooves to inadvertently meet furred hide. The first ghost was thrown several dozen feet, changing to her true, blob-like form as she did so. The second ghost transformed back into her more usual human form, collected her sister, and fled without another word. The boy smirked arrogantly and set off in pursuit. As much as he wanted to avoid a fight with the other eighteen members of the Ghost Master's team, he couldn't let them continue with such a dangerous misconception. They may have been less hostile than other ghosts, but they were still ghosts.

Besides, his ego demanded revenge.

* * *

Skulker nodded to himself as the three combatants vanished out of sight. He would have liked to follow, but he expected Vlad to arrive shortly and demand to know what happened. He needed to play ignorant when the man arrived. He leaned back and pretended to fall asleep, but his mind was awhirl.

He had been right; Technus was no longer following the plan. He was not going to share that information because it meant revealing that he'd been monitoring the nanobots' progress on his own. His own plots would need to be altered slightly, he realized. Technus was too well entrenched in Danny's brain. Maybe…

Well, he'd have to think about that later. He growled in irritation as his employer arrived, then reactivated the ecto-skeleton and rose to make his slightly altered report.

* * *

A/N: Quick answer to your question, Danielle. Maddie found out back in Hounds and Hunters, but Danny gained the temporary ability to mess with people's heads and made her kind of forget. She shook it off and managed to remember again in Whistlin' Dixie, but Danny doesn't know she knows this time.


	6. Chapter Five

Valerie Grey was on edge. Skulker was still on the loose; the Wisconsin Ghost had been sighted numerous times; the ghost kid was behaving strangely; so was Danny, come to think of it; and her ghost alarm was going off. She walked to the door of her room and glanced around furtively, but just as she started down the hall, a voice demanded, "Where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"But Daddy!" she all but whined, turning to face him. "There's a ghost!"

Damon crossed his arms and gave his daughter "The Look". "Homework, first," he reminded her. "Then you can go chasing all the ghosts you want until your curfew."

Valerie grumbled mutinously but resumed trying to concentrate. It wouldn't be too much longer, anyway, she realized nervously. The ghost was apparently in the house with them. She stood quietly, but just as she summoned her ghost hunting suit, something growled from the front room. She rushed out, accompanied by the sound of her father's alarmed cry.

"Valerie!" he yelled from the top of a counter. "Get back! Run away!"

She ignored him, focusing instead on the slightly maddened black eyes of the alligator. "You're going down, ghost!" she informed it, dodging behind the couch as it lunged for her. Its mouth was agape to display its jagged teeth, and she could almost swear she saw a human face staring out at her from the depths of its stomach. The thought was driven out of mind as it attacked again, rushing forward at a speed that might have amazed given its size. The young ghost hunter, however, had studied alligators in preparation for just such a battle. Aside from its ghostly nature, it wasn't overly special.

She jumped to the side, still ignoring her father's pleas and commands that she go somewhere safe. Instead of charging after her, the creature froze in indecision. Its eyes blazed red for a moment, and then it was running straight through the wall. The whole event took less than a second.

Outside, Valerie was able to mount her jet sled. Although she could easily have outdistanced the creature, it had piqued her curiosity. It had attacked without provocation or warning, remained a little longer than it took to get her attention, and left at its fastest speed. She thought it seemed very random, and couldn't help but think that it was trying to lead her somewhere, probably into a trap. She grinned, vowing to turn the tables on it.

Eventually, the alligator slowed and stopped. Its sides heaved as though out of breath, and it seemed to be choking on something. As she watched in horrified fascination, a misty sort of hand latched onto the creature's upper jaw, followed slowly and methodically by the rest of the "body". Both mist and monster faded as it fought its way free, until only the glowing red eyes of the Ghost Master remained. Then, even that was gone.

* * *

Danny walked through the park, hardly aware that he was doing so. He'd been running more or less on auto-pilot since the day before, his mind off gallivanting about on its own. It was easier to just let himself be distracted instead of trying to focus on a certain thought when there were so many flitting about.

He laughed softly and glanced around, suddenly certain that whatever Skulker had done to him had worked exactly as it was meant. Oh, sure, he had his homework for the next several months completed, but his mind refused to shut down long enough for him to sleep. He could repair all his parents' inventions and make them better than before, but he couldn't stand being around other people for more than a few seconds at a time, including his friends and family. He had managed to focus on fighting the twins, but he didn't know if he would be able to again. It was harder to think than it had been at the time.

He almost didn't notice when his ghost sense went off, and it was like wading through muck to pay attention. Muck that felt like little silver spiders. It also disturbed him to note a strange feeling as of someone else looking out through his eyes. He quickly transformed just in time to see a pair of red eyes float by.

"Watch out for your girlfriend," the Ghost Master laughed, jerking his eyes in the direction he had come from. "I think I got her a little riled up."

"What did you do?" Danny demanded.

The ghost snickered. "Just messing with her…Cajun gator style…"

"You!" Valerie shouted before he could formulate a response. As he dodged out of the way of her attack, he barely heard her say, "I might have known I find you here!"

"Really?" Danny shot back. "Amazing. I didn't even know I was going to be here, so you must be smarter than me." And that was impossible, he added silently with more than a touch of arrogance. No one was smarter than he.

* * *

Skulker watched the battle with great interest, taking care to note the hunter girl's new fighting style. After all, he would probably have to know later. He was only peripherally aware as the aging bed sheet floated into the air next to him. "Now, why did I do that?" the Ghost Master asked curiously.

"Because my employer wanted it done," Skulker replied. He sighed in general peevishness, though mostly at Vlad. The half ghost, usually inclined to more intelligence than he showed, seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he had been betrayed. It made him wonder what game the man was really playing.

"Dang, she's fine, ain't she?" the old lech muttered. Skulker merely rolled his eyes.

* * *

Technus smirked. He'd gotten much better at directing his host's thought process; the boy didn't have a clue he wasn't the one in charge of this fight. Biological systems really were a lot like computers at the most basic level. The only real difference was that humans were sentient and able to fight back, and even that was little different than an advanced anti-virus program. He allowed Danny to dodge a blast and directed him to return fire, marveling at how easy it was once he'd gotten the hang of it.

Valerie ducked out of the way, astounded by her opponent's strength. She'd never had such a fight with him before, even when he'd been under Necrowind's control, and had always considered his victories a matter of luck. The image of her old suit as she had last seen it came unbidden to mind. He was stronger than she realized, but she hadn't wanted to admit it at the time.

All those times they fought, he really had been holding back. So what changed? His eyes were red; had he been hypnotized again? "What's up with you?" she demanded, looking for a distraction rather than actually expecting a response.

Technus laughed maniacally. The boy was completely enthralled, so what did it matter anymore? He was desperate to tell someone about his genius. "I am Technus!" he announced, noting with satisfaction the surprise on the girl's face. "Master of electrical and biological systems! I have the ghost child under my complete control! But I'm not telling you why." He smirked.

The ghost hunter paused. She knew of Technus, of course, but her only experience fighting him had been the time he possessed Sandruu, Phantom's son from the future. Even as she wondered whether or not to believe him, she realized that answered so many questions, like how he'd been able to take over her gear. They traded blows, and she found it very difficult not to laugh at his expression. He was practically dying for her to respond in some way.

"Ha! You're too scared to speak!" Technus yelled in an attempt to sooth his ego. After all, it was obvious that she was scared. It couldn't possibly be that she just wasn't impressed.

"Me?" Valerie laughed. "Scared of some lame ghost?"

"Lame!" her opponent repeated heatedly. "I'll show you lame, little girl!" Adopting an air of smug superiority, he sent a remote signal to her equipment, commanding it to shut down. He laughed at her alarmed gasp and flew away.

* * *

Vlad leaned around a tree and reflected on satisfying it was when everyone behaved as predicted. True, he had been hoping Technus would succeed in the original plan, but he was equally as happy that the ghost didn't. All he needed was a distraction while he met with a mysterious figure about the price of a certain vial; he'd simply been enjoying the show for days.

It had become apparent, however, that Danny was unable to throw off Technus' influence on his own. Well, Vlad had a plan for that, too. "Valerie!" he called, attempting to appear out of breath. "Thank heavens I caught up to you!"

"Mr. Masters?" the girl exclaimed. She dashed across to him. "What are you doing here?"

He gave a chagrined smile. "I came to warn you that ghost found a way to hack into your equipment, but I see I'm a bit late."

Valerie groaned. "Oh, man, Mr. Masters, he doesn't even have to get close to me! What do I do? How can I beat him?"

He pretended to consider carefully for some time even though he already knew what to do. "It'll be very dangerous…" he began. At her eager acceptance, he sighed heavily and gave her a small device. "Very well. You will have to journey into the Ghost Zone to the Technus' lair. There's someone held captive there who can help you. This will override the doors on the Fenton's Ghost Portal and lead you where you need to be."

Valerie took a breath to steady herself, then nodded decisively and reactivated her suit. "Don't worry, Mr. Masters. I won't let you down."

As he watched her fly away, he smiled. "Of that, my dear, I have no doubts." He chuckled evilly and turned to address the ghost standing behind him. "Follow her. See to it that she's not accosted."

Skulker nodded and flew after her, unsure whether to be relieved or worried that this was all part of some plan.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I want to apologize. I feel the need to apologize. It's a new semester and stuph. I promise I will resume updating every day, but I can't say when. 


	7. Chapter Six

"Twenty-three bottles of beer on the wall…." a voice sang weakly. "Twenty-three bottles of beer…"

Valerie ignored the words and focused on the voice. It seemed to come from a slightly raised circular platform rimmed in lights. Listening carefully, she realized it gave off a low hum as well. The voice definitely came from above it, but there was no one there. She wasn't very surprised. "Excuse me!" she called, stepping into view. The voice faltered and stopped. "How long have you been at that?"

After a few seconds, the voice responded, "Uh…three days?"

"What number did you start on?"

"You don't want to know." Kat faded into view using her old fourteen-year-old form as it was easier to maintain, and she was weak from boredom. "Come to gloat, miss ghost hunter?" she asked.

Valerie toyed with the notion of just walking out, but Vlad had said she could trust the ghost girl. She might hate ghosts, but she trusted her benefactor. That did not mean that she had to like it. "I…I'm supposed to get your help," she allowed, willing to say that she needed it. It was on her tongue to ask why Kat didn't just get down, but clearly something held her in place. "So how do I shut this thing off?"

The gremlin glared suspiciously and pointed at a nearby console. "Dad was feeling cliché," she explained. "It's the big red button."

Valerie paused, her hand over said button. "Technus is your dad?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, well. Today, he's mud. Get me out of here."

She was related to the guy causing the whole mess, but Vlad had said to trust her. Well, technically he'd said she could help; he never said anything about trust. Still, against her better judgment, she hit the button. Immediately, the control panel began to spark. Glancing over, she saw the platform was as well. She had just enough to get out of the way before the two exploded, and Kat manifested in her usual form, laughing maniacally.

"So much better!" the thespian announced. She gave Valerie a grandiose bow, even removing her top hat with a dramatic flourish. "And to thee do I give my thanks. If e'er you need a favor, you may call upon me but once." She started to vanish in a puff of blue smoke.

"Wait! I need that favor, now!" She waited until the ghost came back and ignored the cocked eyebrow as she explained the situation. "So will you help?" she finished.

Kat looked her up and down with an appraising eye. "Hm, well, it's good workmanship. Still, nothing I can't hack. Dad uses the same codes for everything, I swear. And then he's amazed when I can hack his systems." She shook her head, chuckling quietly, and drew a glowing circle in the air. "Fly with me, miss ghost hunter. We'll discuss along the way. This is going to be interesting…" She vanished through the temporary ghost portal with Valerie in hot pursuit.

* * *

"We're here at the Amity Park Power Station where infamous ghost Danny Phantom appears to be holding several people hostage." Tiffany Snow glanced back to make sure nothing had changed in the past thirty seconds before facing the camera to continue her report.

In actuality, Technus was trying to clear the area of anyone who might be able to stop him, or so he told himself. He was unsure of the real reason he didn't want anyone to get hurt, and he had no desire to entertain the most likely cause. Danny was firmly under control; there was no way his mind might have been interfering. It was the sound of a familiar engine that drew his attention long before the hunter girl's battle cry. He built the equipment, after all. He probably knew its sound better than he knew his daughter's voice.

"Back for more?" he laughed.

Valerie hovered at eye level half a dozen feet away. "Are you sure this is going to work?" she whispered, ignoring his usual histrionics.

"Is the sky green and orange?" responded her electronic hitchhiker.

"What?" She dropped to avoid an ectoplasmic energy blast and returned fire, Kat's odd comment temporarily forgotten.

Technus dodged the attack, still in very good humor. It struck him as the height of comedy that a normal human girl possibly thought she could beat him. So amused was he that he decided to say as much. "You cannot hope to defeat me! For I am Technus!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Valerie interrupted. "I get it already!"

"Foolish child!" the ghost scoffed. "Have you forgotten that I can render you helpless with a mere thought?" He sent the shut down command to her equipment. There was the barest moment during which they both wondered what had happened, and then every nanobot in Danny's body with alive with electricity. Kat, previously been hiding in Valerie's equipment, had traveled back across the signal.

The black and white body fell, screaming, though which ghost actually felt the pain was up for debate. Kat took very brief control to get him inside the building; she knew he would likely change back and hoped that Valerie wouldn't find them. Then even she couldn't keep him conscious.

* * *

It was dark and the bugs were everywhere. Danny felt like he was on fire from the inside and was barely aware when it ceased and the bugs fell away. A familiar voice groaned, "Oh, that hurt…" to which a second responded, "Don't say I didn't warn you, Daddio."

He was in the hall from his nightmare, but it felt different. It felt less like a dream and more like reality. Looking up, he saw Technus in much the same condition he was. Kat stood behind him, looking around with great interest. Noting his attention, she grinned. "You have a…an interesting mind," she said tactfully.

He blinked. "Is that what this is?" The two electric ghosts fixed him with near-identical glares of skepticism.

"Um, duh."

Technus stood, chuckling lightly. "Indeed! And now that I have complete control of your body, I will use it to take over the world!" His daughter rolled her eyes and mouthed something about a one-trick pony.

Danny stood as well and clenched his fists. "We'll see about that!" He raised one hand to fire an ectoplasmic energy. Suddenly, the little spiders jumped to life and swarmed over him. It crossed his mind to wonder why Kat didn't help, but even as he thought it, he knew they could hear it.

"I can't help without hurting you worse," she called. "Those things are too sophisticated for me to reprogram."

"Can't you destroy them?" he demanded on the verge of panic that he couldn't get rid of them.

"No!" Technus gleefully answered for her. "Not without permanently damaging several important systems! You think I didn't plan for that?"

He had hoped not. It was official; Technus really was smarter than Danny gave him credit.

"Thank you!" the ghost mocked.

On the other hand, in order to control him, Technus would have to have set up a mental link between the two of them. His sudden genius had probably been a side effect of that. And if it worked one way…

Danny grinned as the silver bugs fell away. "This is my mind, Technus," he reminded his opponent. "And you're not welcome."

Technus shouted in alarm and tried to flee as the nanobots attacked, but, as the boy had reminded him, this wasn't his mind. When it came right down to it, he wasn't really the one in charge. He fell beneath the silver creatures and saw Danny leaning over him. "There's only one way to stop the pain," the boy said with great relish.

Technus growled. "Fine! But this isn't the end, ghost child! Technus 2.0 will return to fight another day!" The nanobots stopped just long enough let him escape. After a few moments of their master's absence, they ceased to function. Danny slowly opened his eyes to see Technus disappear back to his lair.

"You okay?" Kat asked, leaning over him.

"…head hurts…" he muttered vaguely.

"Not surprised," she agreed. "It'll be a few days before you're back to normal." She faded into a mist of sorts, and he found himself staring at his ghost half. The apparition flashed him a lopsided grin. "Valerie's on her way. Just…lay there. You'll be rescued shortly." Kat tipped a nonexistent hat and went to be as obvious as possible. For such an egotistical thespian, that wouldn't be difficult.

Danny sighed and closed his eyes again. By the time Valerie found him, he was deep into a thankfully dreamless asleep.

* * *

A/N: Whoops! I screwed up and forgot to post the last chapter. Sorry! So, you get two. (hate when I do that...) 


	8. Epilogue

Skulker watched Fenton Works from his perch across the street, rather disturbed that Plasmius had left on his own terms. After a moment, he lowered his binoculars and decided that it didn't matter. With the other two gone and the haunters more or less on his side, however temporarily, he was free to capture the ghost boy at his leisure.

He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, happily debating whether he'd rather have Danny as a wall mount or a rug.

* * *

Vlad smirked as he entered his library, a carefully padded box clutched in his hands. The Paranormal Society might not have done their jobs properly when they went to Amity Park, but at least it wasn't a total loss. What he had planned would take time, of course. He had contemplated cloning Danny, but that was really a stupid idea. No, he had another thought, one that he hoped wouldn't backfire. 

He opened the box and carefully held the small blood sample to the light. Danny was different for some reason, and that difference made him stronger. At least, it would. He had already mastered abilities that had taken the older half ghost years to even discover. He wasn't too sure about this plan of his, but he was quickly growing desperate. He was so close…so close to not being alone…

* * *

Danny trudged through the crowded hall, grateful for the presence of his friends. It was astounding to him that they could possibly forgive his behavior from the past several days, but they claimed to understand. Sam had ever refrained from an "I told you so" attitude, which she would have been fully justified in. 

"So was Kat able to get rid of them?" the object of his thoughts asked quietly.

He shook his head and immediately regretted the movement. "She said they'll shut down on their own in a few days."

"Hey, Danny?" Tucker began hesitantly. "I know you say she's okay, but are you sure you can trust her?"

Danny gave a small half smile. "I seem to recall you wanted to date her." The boy turned a shade darker from embarrassment, eliciting good natured snickering from his two friends. After a moment's thought, Danny continued. "I can trust her to be Kat. I really don't think she means any harm." It was difficult to explain, especially since it was so difficult to think. Fortunately or unfortunately, he was saved from having to respond by a sudden chill that no one else felt.

Sam and Tucker, who had long since learned to recognize his ghost sense, followed him to stand in front of the janitor's closet while he transformed. They exchanged amused smirks that said plainly, "What would he do without us?"

* * *

A/N: Next up: Shattered Reflection, which will feature Skulker as the villain. Yes, I know. A canon villain that isn't Technus; the world must be coming to an end. A huge thank you to all you who have taken the time to review. I love you guys, seriously. I am so addicted to feedback. 


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